Man sent his partner CVS of job rivals

A COUNCIL planning officer lost his job after accessing an internal computer system to find the curricula vitae of his partner’s job rivals.

Kevin Bunsell was head of building control at Nuneaton and Bedworth district council, in Warwickshire, when his partner applied for an administrative job at the authority in July 2017.

Bunsell then went into the council’s recruitment computer system and sent the names, addresses, telephone numbers and CVS of nine of the rival shortlisted candidates to his partner’s email account.

The breach was later discovered by colleagues and Bunsell resigned.

His partner, whose application for the council job was successful, was then dismissed on the grounds that the recruitment process was invalid.

At Nuneaton magistrates’ court on Tuesday, Bunsell, 60, of Pembroke Close, Bedworth, admitted a charge of unlawfully sharing data.

He was fined £660 and also ordered to pay £714 costs and a victim surcharge of £66.

Steve Eckersley, director of investigations at the Information Commissioner’s Office, which brought the prosecution, said: “People who supply their personal information to an organisation in good faith, such as when applying for a job, have a right to expect it will be treated lawfully and ethically.

“Not respecting people’s legal right to privacy can have serious consequences.”